A.R.E. Blog

The Unexpected Visit By Kim O'Neill

As a psychic, I've always found it a privilege to channel for clients who were eager to heal longstanding emotional and spiritual wounds through communicating with their angels and departed loved ones. It is a remarkable process to enter into a dialog with a deceased loved one with whom we still share unresolved issues and be able to heal those wounds—with the full cooperation of the departed! In fact, in circumstances in which an earthly relationship is so fraught with ongoing tension and melodrama, sometimes the only way to resolve the issues is after one of the individuals has passed on. Ironically, in light of my experience in addressing issues of my own through channeling, hypnosis, and traditional therapy, I truly believed that all my childhood healing was finally complete. But an uninvited visit from a departed family member would prove me very wrong.

In the 1920s, my paternal grandparents left Sweden and immigrated to America. They chose to settle in Chicago, most likely because there was a large Swedish community and the climate would have reminded them of "back home." They had one child, my dad, who was raised according to the prevailing children-are-supposed-to-be-seen-and-not-heard philosophy so popular at the time. He grew up, fell in love with an American Catholic girl of Irish-German descent, and they were married. A few years later, I was born, and my two brothers soon followed. As far back as I can remember, my grandparents spoke with heavy accents and would pepper their conversation with Swedish words and phrases. At birthday parties, we always sang in English and then in Swedish, which is a tradition I carry on to this day, wanting to pay tribute to them as well as celebrate a part of the heritage I have passed down to my children. My grandfather, so incredibly loving, was always referred to as "Farfar," the Swedish word for a paternal grandfather. If I chose not to marry a Swede, he would tell me in his broken English, when I had children, he hoped they would call my dad—his son— "Farfar." But, unfortunately, life would take a very different turn.

My father, Stig, became an abusive alcoholic. Even as a small child, I could sense that he was miserable with his life. To offset the depression and restlessness he felt, he developed a hobby. One day, he came home with a huge Lionel train set that he had acquired for himself rather than as something to share with us kids. This moment, as I write, I realize for the first time that the train set likely fed his fantasy of having the freedom to escape the dismal life he had created. No wonder he invested so much time alone playing with his new hobby! He continued to buy new cars and track, and soon the Lionel train set dominated our large suburban basement. He painstakingly arranged hundreds of feet of track on several Ping-Pong tables, and his railroad empire wound through a series of quaint, tiny villages that he had created. My parents were always struggling financially and I have no clue where he got the money.

When he wasn't home, my brothers and I loved to play with the life-like, sturdy Lionel steam engines and all of their numerous rail cars that operated by remote control. We never tired of staging crashes in which two steam engines would collide head-on, and then derail, sending all the rail cars cascading to the concrete floor—without causing even a scratch on their sturdy frames!

The alcohol fueled my dad's temper, and as time went on, it became impossible for me to maintain a relationship with him. Because we were estranged, my father never met my husband, Britt, and he died before I had children. He had caused me so much pain that I never spoke about him.

Years later, one Saturday morning when my son, Flynn, was six years old, he came downstairs for breakfast and he was rubbing his eyes. I asked if he had slept well, and he told me, to my utter astonishment, that "Farfar" had come to visit and together, they went to "his house in heaven" and played with his big train set all night! Flynn told me how much fun he had, and that he couldn't wait to go back.

I had never used the term "Farfar" with my son, nor had I ever told him anything about my father's elaborate train set. I was a professional channel, so spirit visitations—whether angelic or with the departed—were something I experienced and facilitated on a daily basis. And this certainly appeared to be tangible evidence that my father was indeed visiting! But, at the same time, I was concerned about the kind of influence my father was going to have on my son. After breakfast, I sat with Britt at the kitchen table and I invited my departed dad to communicate with me. Once I could feel his presence, a torrent of negative energy enveloped me. The negative sensations were not coming from my dad in spirit form, I realized; instead, to my surprise, I had to acknowledge the unpleasant fact that I still had a lot of personal healing to do. I could readily hear my dad—in spirit—assure me that he had let go of all of his serious emotional issues as soon as his soul left his physical body at the time of his death.

At first I was completely unwilling to have any further communication with my departed father. I had been so hurt by him as a child that I found it nearly impossible to trust that he wasn't going to create more pain for me—or my two children. But at the request of my husband, I decided to take the risk and slowly opened a dialog with my dad; and, to my surprise, discovered over time that his spirit is sensitive, funny, warm, engaging, supportive, dependable, and encouraging. If "Farfar" had not visited Flynn, I never would have had the opportunity of getting to know him as he really is—on a soul level. What's more, I may never have become aware that I was still harboring toxic resentment, disappointment, and fear that was corroding me emotionally. I'm delighted that my children have the opportunity to receive visits from "Farfar" in their dreams and enjoy the fun of the Lionel train set! Through the process of channeling, I have been able to heal old wounds and develop—for the first time—a close relationship with my dad, and my children have had the unique opportunity to get to know their maternal grandfather...who died years before they were born!

Kim O'Neill, voted Houston's Top Psychic by Houston Press Magazine, has been a psychic channel for over 24 years. She conducts private channeling sessions for an international list of clients from all walks of life—physicians, attorneys, entertainment professionals, religious leaders, fellow psychics, and many more. Her "Ask Kim" column is a prominent monthly feature in Indigo Sun Magazine. She has established international motivational seminars and workshops designed to help people transform their lives and develop greater spiritual. She is a frequent guest on radio and TV talk shows, providing accurate and specific psychic information covering a wide range of topics. She is also the author of the best-selling book How to Talk with Your Angels and the recently released The Calling: My Journey with the Angels. Kim lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and their two children.

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